Taking a wide angle view of food insecurity (see the Ryerson 5As of food security in the Framework section), then most Canadians are currently food insecure or at significant risk of becoming so. When one adds the amount of poverty - related food insecurity (see below) with the levels of food-related chronic disease, food access issues, the difficulties in many parts of the country acquiring culturally and personally appropriate diets, on-going challenges with food safety, and national food supply vulnerabilities associated with market-distortions and environmental degradation (see other parts of this Problem section), then most of us are touched in some way by food insecurity.
But, income-related food insecurity is the most acute and immediate problem and the primary focus of this section. Canada's income security is now described as one of the weakest in the industrial world. In 2012, 1 Canadian household in 8 experienced income-related food insecurity at some level, meaning “inadequate or insecure access to food because of financial constraints”, and this involved some 4 million people including over a million children (1 child in 6 lived in a food insecure household) (Tarasuk et al., 2014). Almost 5 million Canadians lived in poverty in 2016, 1 Canadian in 7 (Canada without Poverty and Citizens for Public Justice, 2016). Statistics Canada (2022) concluded that 6.9 million Canadians (including 1 child in 4) experienced income-related food insecurity, and this does not include the Territories where food insecurity is historically high. 2023 data from Statistics Canada revealed a sharp annual rise of those marginally, moderately or severely food insecure to 8.7 million. According to the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), household food insecurity among First Nations is more than twice the national average (28.2%, excluding First Nations Peoples living on reserve, versus 12.6%). Among First Nations peoples living on reserve (about 43% of the total First Nations population), the levels of food insecurity are even higher, although the data is not as comprehensive. For four provinces, the levels of food insecurity on reserve were: 41% in British Columbia (2008-2009); 38% in Manitoba (2010); 29% in Ontario (2011-2012); 47% in Alberta (2013). Four in ten (41%) Inuit aged 15 and older lived in food insecure households (Dietitians of Canada, 2016).
Sriram and Tarasuk (2015) concluded that food insecurity appears to result from the interplay of household resources (income, assets, access to credit) and household expenditures (shelter, food, other necessities, and debt). Those with lower income and significant household expenses are more likely to report being food insecure. Income precarity and material deprivation are, thus, significant dimensions of this situation. The working poor (receiving low wages for their work) and those receiving government benefits are very likely to be food insecure (Dietitians of Canada, 2016).
Food insecure individuals are also more likely to have suboptimal diets and poorer physical and mental health, particularly depression, heart disease and diabetes (Dietitians of Canada, 2016). The food insecure are more likely than those not food insecure to be high cost users of health care services. For example, children and teens in Ontario food-insecure households, based on 2005-14 data, had a 55-per-cent higher level of doctors’ visits and 74 % higher likelihood of hospitalized for mental or substance-use disorders (Anderson et al., 2023). Food insecurity also compromises disease management. US evidence points to lower life expectancy for the food insecure past the age of 50 (Ma et al., 2024). A reduction in food insecurity would reduce health care costs (Fitzgerald et al., 2015; Tarasuk et al., 2016; see also Health problems, this section).
Food banks remain the most visible response to food insecurity, but they are part of a large network of charitable organizations (including religious ones) that distribute food to the food insecure. By some accounts, there are 4 times more charitable distribution outlets than there are commercial food retailer outlets (Nikkel et al., 2021). The focus on food relief is part of an historical charity model. With the best of intentions and driven by very capable emergency food professionals, they are unable to tackle the root causes of food insecurity. Unfortunately, their actions can be complicit in exacerbating the problems, first by allowing governments to support the charity model with grants rather than address the socio-economic conditions that address food insecurity (cf. Riches, 1986; 2018) and second by partnering on charitable food donation projects with corporations that are themselves, because of employment and wage practices, the cause of significant food insecurity (cf. Mendly-Zambo et al., 2021; Azadian et al., 2022). It is estimated that only about 20% of food insecure households use food banks (Li et al., 2023), and because of supply restrictions, typically only receive 3-5 days of food staples per month (Dieticians of Canada, 2016). All this means that the approach is insufficient to address the scope and depth of the problem.
Food insecurity also occurs at multiple inter-related scales - individual, household, region, nation, globe - and is subject to global forces. Climate change provides a telling example of these dynamics as it is clearly linked to food insecurity and health problems in Canada. All aspects of supply chains are impacted negatively by climate change impacts, and these negative impacts are expressed in communities and households, and climate change related weather disruptions can have major implications for food distribution and prices at a regional level (cf. Schnitter and Berry, 2019). The Quebec ice storm of 1998 and the 2021 flooding in southern BC are noteworthy example of how supply logistics are disrupted by extreme weather events.
